Foreign Policy Blogs

Asia & Pacific

Myanmar: Time to untangle Aung San Suu Kyi From Political Reform?

Myanmar:  Time to untangle Aung San Suu Kyi From Political Reform?

Is Aung San Suu Kyi’s star power waning after nearly two decades of political and social isolation under house arrest?  What affect is this having on the countries democracy movement?   These questions are explored in a recent  New York Times article.  There is no way to tell how representative this person is, but… “I […]

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Latest in Pakistan

The good thing is that Prime Minster Gilani has called all the major political parties to share the outcome of this meeting with Indian Prime Minister. This is a wonderful development in a country where everything is slowly sliding back towards stone age. I am sure that my readers would be surprised to read that […]

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The Naxalite threat

Even as India struggles to defend itself from external terrorist organizations, the homegrown Naxalite movement continues to pose serious security concerns. On Sunday the Naxals killed 36 policemen in two separate incidents in Rajnandgaon and Sitagaon areas in the state of Chhattisgarh. Last month they seized around 2000 villages in the Lalgarh region in West […]

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Free Trade in the Shadow of the Dragon

Free Trade in the Shadow of the Dragon

Notwithstanding the paralysis of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round and the current global economic recession, bilateral and regional trade deals have continued to progress in Southeast Asia. Over the last decade, ASEAN has negotiated free trade agreements (FTA) at breakneck speeds, signing deals with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also in the […]

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Yudhoyono Rides High On "More of the Same…" in Indonesia

Yudhoyono Rides High On "More of the Same…" in Indonesia

This week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (aka SBY) easily won a second five-year term as Indonesia’s president, running away with 62% of the vote, according to official polling data, although a precise vote count is not yet available. SBY will be the first Indonesian president to be re-elected and the second to be chosen by […]

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India’s Defense Ministry releases annual report for 2008-09

Reasserting its allegations of Pakistan’s involvement in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, the Indian Ministry of Defense today released its Annual Report for 2008-09. According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), the report says that there is clear evidence of the attack being planned and launched from Pakistan. Though Pakistan initially contested the claim, […]

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Latest Pakistan News!!

Dear readers, please accept my apologies for my short absence. I am back and you will get to read latest and update analysis regularly, once again. So much has been going on in the country, but for the time being, my focus remains the same. Ordinary people in Pakistan are suffering, and there is no […]

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India Budget Reax: Mo Money…

Newly elected and unburdened by clamoring communists and coalition politics, the Congress government will make bold economic reforms. At least that’s what the markets and analysts figured. All last week, the markets in India climbed up the hill in anticipation. Then on Monday came the budget speech. And the markets came tumbling after.  The reactions […]

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Balancer Needed in Asia

Balancer Needed in Asia

Memo to Obama Administration: Now would be a good time to re-hyphenate your India policy, less India-Pakistan more India-China. Rising Sino-Indian tensions are causing people, including this blogger, to wonder whether Obama has a plan to deal with a pivotal security challenge of the 21st Century: the management of Chinese ambitions and Indian anxieties. It […]

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Water & electricity shortage

Despite my positive outlook about life, I get extremely depressed when I look at Pakistan as an observer from outside. At times, I just don’t know how can the country deal with serious issues threatening Pakistan’s very existence. For me, one way is to stick my head in sand and keep pretending that all is […]

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Name one thing wrong!

It is fashionable in Pakistan to oppose America. Perhaps, it is a phobia that has gripped the country that America is bad. Or, it is just plain stupidity that people in Pakistan love to be anti American. No matter how you look at it, there is a campaign in Pakistan against the United States of […]

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Imran in America

As I have discussed yesterday, Taliban supporter and anti American politician, who by the way has failed for 10 years in politics is in America. Apparently, he is there to raise funds for the victims of Swat Operation. Well, only in America. Yes, only in America can a man like Imran Khan, who supports the […]

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Why is Imran in Houston?

Imran Khan, a failed politician in Pakistan was in Houston recently. While there, his tone was totally different from what people hear him in Pakistan. When he speaks in Pakistan, he rails against the great Satan, America (according to him), but he selects his words carefully when he is in the States. Double standard? Yes, […]

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Today's papers in Pakistan

US Senate passes Kerry Lugar Bill on Pakistan aid by unanimous vote Supreme Court dismisses Sarabjit’s appeal Missile kills key trainer of Taliban suicide bombers PAF tried 57 personnel in Musharraf assassination plot The nature of insurgencies War, regimentation and journalism Contract farming harming mango production Massive crop losses feared in Swat Storage at Tarbela […]

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From today's papers in Pakistan

Missile attacks kill 50 in South Waziristan UK must do more to combat militants: Zardari Pakistan’s envoy meets Indian foreign secretary A toast to our brilliant ‘bayyz’ India not a threat Pakistani assault hurting Taliban, says US officer 5 security men martyred in Swat clash Another murder Strained hosts? Rescuers on the rampage Taliban leadership […]

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